This invention relates to the shaping and cooling of glass sheets and particularly relates to a high speed production of bent glass sheets that are toughened by air quenching. In the past, glass sheets were conveyed through a furnace on one of several types of conveyors and heated while passing through the furnace to a temperature approaching the glass softening point. Immediately beyond the furnace, each glass sheet in turn was lifted by a lower outline mold which raised the glass sheet into engagement with an upper mold having a shape conforming to that desired for the glass. The shaped glass sheet was then transferred in some manner to a cooling station.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,846,104 to Seymour provides a faster bending and tempering cycle than the prior art by providing method and apparatus in which the lower shaping mold moves only vertically at the shaping station, the upper vacuum mold remains at the shaping station and holds the shaped glass sheet thereagainst as the lower shaping mold retracts to below the level of the conveyor, and means to support a glass sheet adjacent its marginal or peripheral edge only, preferably comprising a tempering ring, moves generally horizontally between the shaping station and the cooling station so that it is possible to cool one glass sheet while another is being shaped, thus making it possible to reduce the duration of a shaping and cooling cycle. The apparatus in the Seymour patent uses a vacuum pickup to remove a bent, cooled glass sheet from the tempering ring and deposit the glass on an additional conveyor.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,957,277 to White and Carson transfers a bent glass sheet from an outline mold on which it is supported to a roller conveyor by means of a device that supports the glass inward of the outline mold support for lifting. Hook-like members engage the lifted glass above the mold shaping surface and transfer the glass to stub rolls that convey the glass sheets through the remainder of an annealing lehr.